ASCENEURON - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Health Care Executive
Abbas is a Health Care Executive with a 35-year track record of building and growing businesses across the Globe. He has a strong track record across the pharmaceutical value chain in both Mature and Emerging Markets.
From July 2021 to January 2023, Abbas was CEO of Vifor Pharmaceuticals- a Swiss listed Nephrology focused Specialty Pharma company which was acquired in 2022 for circa $12Bn in one of the largest health care deals of the year.
Abbas currently holds various Non-Executive Director and Advisor roles including Alfasigma SpA, 4Bio Capital, C-Bridge Capital, Asceneuron SA, and GLG Institute. He previously held various Non-Executive Director roles including Cochlear Limited, CSL, Teva Pharmaceutical, Immunocore and advisory roles with companies such as Hikma Plc, Cell Research Corp, Abingworth and Indegene Inc. Abbas provides ad hoc consultancy services to PE and VC.
Prior to his current portfolio of Non-Executive Director roles, Abbas was at GlaxoSmithKline for over ten years. During his tenure at GlaxoSmithKline, Abbas was a member of the Corporate Executive Team and a Non-Executive Director of ViiV Healthcare. In December 2014, Abbas was appointed President, Global Pharmaceuticals with responsibilities for the Pharmaceuticals operations Europe, US and Emerging Markets & Asia.
Prior to GlaxoSmithKline, Abbas was President, Europe at Eli Lilly and before that Vice President, Europe with specific responsibility for the Western European Mid-Size countries, Africa & Middle East Area/Commonwealth of Independent States and Central & Eastern Europe regions. Abbas joined Lilly UK in 1988 and took on roles of increasing responsibility in Sales, Marketing and Business Development before his appointment as Managing Director of Turkey in 1998. He then became General Manager, Lilly Deutschland.
Abbas is married to Susan and has 3 children.
Adam L. Boxer, MD, PhD is the Endowed Professor in Memory and Aging in the Department of Neurology, Weill Institute of Neuroscience, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Boxer directs the Neurosciences Clinical Research Unit and the Alzheimer's Disease and Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD) Clinical Trials Program at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center.
He is currently, and has been, the Principal Investigator (PI) for a variety of multicenter, randomized, placebo controlled clinical trials in neurodegenerative diseases. He is the PI of the Alzheimer's Disease Tau Platform (ATP) clinical trial conducted through the NIH Alzheimer's Clinical Trials Consortium (ACTC). He is co-PI of the ARTFL/LEFFTDS Longitudinal Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (ALLFTD) project focused on preparing for FTD clinical trials, and the FTD Prevention Initiative (FPI), a global collaboration focused on prevention trials in autosomal dominant FTLD. He is PI of the Neurofilament Surveillance Project (NSP) that is developing blood biomarkers for use in FTLD clinical trials. He also leads the Four Repeat Tauopathy Neuroimaging Initiative (4RTNI) and is contact PI for Biomarker Evaluation in Young Onset Dementia from Diverse Populations (BEYONDD).
Job Titles:
- Director, SR One
- Principal in SR One London
Amit is a Principal in SR One London office and covers venture capital investments in biotech. Prior to joining SR One in early 2018, Amit worked in various roles at GlaxoSmithKline including late phase clinical development, global med affairs, and early pipeline commercial strategy. He is a board certified equivalent plastic surgeon, specialised in microsurgical cancer reconstruction. Since 2020, Amit has sat on the venture capital panel for the BioInnovation Institute, Novo Nordisk's international life sciences incubator.
Job Titles:
- Head of Non - Clinical Development and Medicinal Chemistry
Anna Quattropani is the Head of Non-Clinical Development and Medicinal Chemistry. She is responsible for all non-clinical development activities including medicinal chemistry, chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC), ADME, early safety pharmacology and toxicology. She also manages the small molecule intellectual property portfolio of the company.
Anna is an experienced Medicinal Chemist with more than 18 years of experience and a successful track record in the design and optimization of small molecules originating from high throughput screening, fragment discovery and knowledge-based design into drug candidates. During the past ten years, she has been working on a variety of neurodegenerative disease projects, designing and optimizing drug-like small molecules with CNS exposure for multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and orphan tauopathies such as progressive supranuclear palsy.
Anna is inventor of several clinical molecules such as the O-GlcNAcase inhibitor ASN120290 for progressive supranuclear palsy and the oxytocin receptor antagonist Nolasiban that has entered Phase 3 clinical studies. Anna obtained her Ph.D. and M.S. in organic synthesis and organometallic chemistry at University of Geneva, Switzerland. She is the inventor of 34 patents and the author of 20 peer-reviewed publications.
With over two decades of expertise in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, Barbara Angehrn Pavik is a highly experienced pharma and biotech executive. In her most recent position at Vifor Pharma Group, Barbara served as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer, overseeing a spectrum of global commercial and operational functions. Notably, Barbara played a key role in the company's acquisition by CSL Limited.
Throughout her career, she has assumed leadership roles in prominent EU and US companies, including EXELIXIS, ONYX PHARMACEUTICALS, and AMGEN. Barbara also founded and served as the Chief Executive of STEPSTONE Pharma.
Beyond her executive capacities, Barbara currently holds Non-Executive Board Director positions at BELLEVUE Group, a healthcare focused asset management organization, and at medmix, a global leader in high-precision devices.
Barbara completed her education, earning a Bachelor & Master in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Job Titles:
- Senior Director & Head of Preclinical Development
Bruno Permanne is the Head of Preclinical Development at Asceneuron. He is responsible for planning and supervision of assay development and pharmacology activities. Bruno is a neurobiologist with over 20 years of experience in drug discovery programs on neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and tauopathies). At Asceneuron he focuses on the O-GlcNAcase inhibitor program and biomarker development. Previously he was a project team leader at Merck Serono, Switzerland, where he successfully ran early discovery programs resulting in the progression of small molecules from high-throughput screens to lead optimization stage.
Bruno obtained his PhD in biochemistry at the University of Lille under the co-supervision of Drs Andre Delacourte and Luc Buée. Subsequently he joined the laboratory of Professor Blas Frangione at the NYU Medical Center, USA, as a postdoc. Both groups are internationally recognized for their work on the pathophysiology of the tau protein and amyloidogenesis in neurodegenerative diseases. He is the author of 13 peer-reviewed publications.
Ms. Moukheibir most recently served as chief executive officer of MedDay Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company that focused on nervous system disorders, from July 2019 to January 2021. She was also the chairman of the board of directors of MedDay from April 2016 to January 2021. Prior to that, Ms. Moukheibir served as the senior advisor for finance and a member of the executive board of directors at Innate Pharma SA, an oncology company, from 2011 to December 2016, and as the chief financial officer for Movetis N.V. from 2008 to 2010, when it was acquired. Ms. Moukheibir previously served as the director of capital markets for Zeltia Group S.A. from 2001 to 2007.
Ms. Moukheibir currently serves on the board of directors and chairs the audit committee of Biotalys, Orphazyme A/S, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals and CMR Surgical. She also held past directorships on the boards of directors of Ablynx NV, Cerenis Therapeutics SA, Creabilis S.A., GenKyoTex S.A., Kymab Group Ltd and Zealand Pharma A/S. She has an M.A. in economics and an M.B.A. from Yale University. Ms. Moukheibir's long leadership career in the biopharmaceutical industry, as well as her deep background in international finance, provide her with valuable business and financial expertise in support of our corporate objectives.
Christopher van Dyck, MD, is a leading clinical researcher focusing on neuroimaging and therapeutic studies of Alzheimer's disease and brain aging. He is a Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Neuroscience and serves as Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Unit, the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, and the Division of Aging and Geriatric Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine.
Alongside his academic positions, Christopher has extensive experience in leading and participating in more than 100 therapeutic trials in Alzheimer's disease, which include prodromal/ preclinical and brain aging stages. He serves on the Steering and Executive Committee and Co-Chairs the Protocol Evaluation Committee at the Alzheimer's Clinical Trials Consortium (ACTC). His extensive research has culminated in the lead authorship of the publication of the first disease-modifying treatment for AD (lecanemab) in 2023.
Job Titles:
- Head
- Head of Intellectual Property
Colin Kahrs is the Head of Intellectual Property at Asceneuron.
With over 20 years of experience in intellectual property for the pharmaceutical and chemical industry, Colin provides essential input to Asceneuron's strategy to protect its small molecule pipeline assets and supports the company in the management of its intellectual property portfolio.
Job Titles:
- Executive
- Member of the Board
- Chief Scientific Advisor and Founder
Dirk Beher is an experienced biotech executive, board member, drug hunter & entrepreneur. Since co-founding Asceneuron in 2012 he has served as the CEO/CSO and Member of the Board of Directors of the company for more than a decade. Dirk led the spinout of Asceneuron from a mid-size pharma and has successfully built a fully functional research and development company from the beginning. Under his leadership Asceneuron has raised to date over CHF 72M from leading venture capital firms and advanced CNS penetrant molecules for numerous protein misfolding diseases from discovery into mid-stage clinical development.
Besides, Dirk brings more than 30 years of research and drug development experience in the field of neurodegeneration and Alzheimer's disease. Prior to Asceneuron, he spent 14 years in pharmaceutical drug discovery leading R&D teams around the globe at Merck Sharp & Dohme (Merck & Co.; UK), Amgen (USA) and Merck Serono (CH). Educated at the Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Germany Dirk holds a Ph.D. and a Diploma (M.S.) in Biology. He is an inventor of numerous patents and author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications and reviews.
Dr Eric Yuen, has over 25 years of clinical development experience in central nervous system (CNS) pathologies and has led multiple Phase I-IV development programs for biologics and small molecules obtaining numerous regulatory approvals. He is currently Chief Medical Officer at Talee Bio Inc which he co-founded in addition to RiboNova Inc. He has held senior positions in several biotech companies including as Chief Medical Officer at Inozyme Pharma and Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals.
Dr Yuen received his M.D. from the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago and completed his neurology training at the University of California at San Francisco. He holds a B.S. in Physics and Biology with Academic Distinction from Stanford University.
Dr Samantha Budd Haeberlein, PhD, is an esteemed figure in neurological drug development with international experience at research and executive level in the discovery and development of therapeutics and biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases. She was previously Senior Vice President and Head of Neurodegeneration at Biogen, where she led and co-led the development of two FDA approved treatments for Alzheimer's disease, ADUHELM and LEQEMBI, and previously at AstraZeneca, where she held senior roles across Research, Development and Translational Medicine. Samantha currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer at Enigma Biomedical Group, developing solutions for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, is on the Board of Directors at Vigil Neuro and is a Senior Advisor to the ICG Life Sciences Investment team.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Department of Neurology at the Ludwig - Maximilians - Universität
Günter Höglinger is the Director of the Department of Neurology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), and an expert in the design and conduct of clinical trials, in the evaluation of safety and efficacy of molecular interventions with disease-modifying intent. He is also the Senior Scientist at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and Principal Investigator at the Cluster of Excellence for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), Munich, Germany. His previous experiences include Deputy Director of the Department of Neurology at the Philipps University of Marburg, and Chair of Translational Neurodegeneration at both the Technical University of Munich and DZNE Munich. He was Director of the Department of Neurology at Hannover Medical School and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the CurePSP Foundation and co-chair of the SAB of the German Parkinson Foundation. He is a world leader in developing molecular fluid and imaging biomarkers.
Job Titles:
- Director, Merck Ventures
- Senior Investment Director at Merck Ventures
Hakan Goker (Ph.D.) is a senior investment director at Merck Ventures, corporate venture arm of the biopharmaceutical division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. Hakan joined Merck Ventures in 2013 and previously was investing as a partner at Aescap Venture and prior to that at Atlas Venture. Since 2006, Hakan was instrumental in the creation, financing, and strategy of multiple biotechnology companies globally including Asceneuron (CH), Orphazyme (DK), Nimbus Discovery (US), F Star (NL), Bicycle Therapeutics (UK) and Nitec now Horizon Pharma (CH/US).
Hakan received his PhD in cancer biology from the Institute of Cancer Research/ University of London and continued his scientific career with post-doctoral work at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Centre/Royal Marsden Hospital. He gained his BSc Honours, from University College London. Hakan is a board member of Asceneuron, Artios Pharma, Forendo, Raze Therapeutics, Tocopherx, Synaffix, and Storm Therapeutics.
Job Titles:
- Director, Sofinnova Partners
- Member of the Capital Funds Team at Sofinnova
Henrijette Richter is managing partners and an active member of the Capital Funds team at Sofinnova.
She joined Sofinnova in 2014, and her investments and board involvements include Mozart Therapeutics, Muna Therapeutics, Nitrase Therapeutics, Nodthera, Twentyeight-Seven Therapeutics, Asceneuron, Delinia (sold to Celgene), and iOmx Therapeutics.
Henrijette was attracted by Sofinnova Partners' focus on a positive, consensus-oriented environment and its philosophy of investing in people.
Prior to Sofinnova, Henrijette was part of the team that founded Novo Seeds in 2007, and as an Investment Director, she was instrumental in the creation, financing and building of companies such as Orphazyme (ORPHA.CO; ORPH), Avilex Pharma, EpiTherapeutics (sold to Gilead), and Lysogene (LYS, Euronext Paris).
Henrijette holds a combined Ph.D. and Industrial Scientist degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Copenhagen and Novo Nordisk A/S. She did her postdoctoral fellowship at the MIT Center for Cancer Research in Massachusetts.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Neurochemistry at the University of Gothenburg
Henrik Zetterberg, MD, PhD, is a decorated researcher in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. Henrik is a Professor of Neurochemistry at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and University College London (UCL), UK, and a Clinical Chemist at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden. He is Head of Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry at the University of Gothenburg, leads the UK DRI Fluid Biomarker Laboratory at UCL, and is a Key Member of the Hong Kong Center for neurodegenerative diseases. He is also a Visiting Professor in the UW Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin.
Henrik has developed and researched new diagnostic tests and new preclinical models for Alzheimer's disease and has been recognised for his influential discoveries as a recipient of numerous prizes such as the Erik K. Fernström Prize for Junior Scientists and the Inga Sandeborg Prize for Research on Alzheimer's Disease.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Cognitive Neurology
James Rowe is a Professor of Cognitive Neurology, a practising clinical neurologist and an expert on Alzheimer's disease, Frontotemporal dementia, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and related disorders. James studied Medical Sciences and Experimental Psychology at Cambridge University before advancing into clinical training at Oxford University; he then obtained his PhD from University College London. Following specialist training in London and Copenhagen, he returned to Cambridge where he now leads the Dementia theme at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre and directs the Cambridge Centre for Frontotemporal Dementia. He is Associate Director of Dementias Platform UK and Chief Scientific Adviser to Alzheimer's Research UK. His work brings together brain imaging, genetics, pharmacology and cognitive neuroscience to understand the mechanisms of disease to advance new treatment options.
Job Titles:
- Principal
- Director, Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC
Lior Teitelbaum is Principal, Venture Investments at Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC, Inc., where he is responsible for investments in the MedTech, Pharmaceutical, and Biotechnology spaces across Israel/Europe. He brings over 17 years of experience in founding, financing and operating in early-stage life sciences companies.
Prior to joining JJDC, Lior was the CBO of FutuRx, a JJDC associated Biotech company creation incubator, where he was responsible for all search & evaluation, transaction and company creation activities as well for FutuRx's SAB management. He was also responsible for Business Development activities and fundraising for all of the FutuRx portfolio companies and for all BD activities of the FutuRx incubator. Before that Lior cofounded the first digital health incubator in Israel supported by Medtronic and IBM.
Prior to that Lior held multiple BD , transaction and alliance management leadership roles in public and private Biotech and Medtech companies. Lior holds an MSc in Molecular Genetics from the Weizmann Institute of science and an MBA from the Tel Aviv University.
Job Titles:
- Expert
- Head of ADME and Toxicology
Manfred joined Asceneuron in 2013 as an expert consultant in drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics and toxicology (ADME/PK/TOX) to guide optimization of drug-like properties in early stages of drug discovery as well as to support non-clinical (IND-enabling safety pharmacology & toxicology) and clinical bioanalytics and PKPD. He was instrumental in the early discovery of our clinical lead ASN120290 and its clinical development up to Phase 2.
Manfred has almost 20 years of international experience in his field and is board-certified toxicologist (US) since 2004. Between 2006 and 2012 he held positions as Head of DMPK & Toxicology at Addex Therapeutics and Head of early ADME at Merck Serono (Geneva, Switzerland). Prior to this he worked for 10 years in the United States at Forest Laboratories (New York City) and at Tularik (now Amgen; South San Francisco) following a toxicology postdoc at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1996 he received his PhD in Analytical Chemistry and Toxicology from the University of Ulm, Germany. Manfred is author of 19 peer-reviewed publications.
Rik Ossenkoppele, PhD, is a renowned academic in neuroscience, working at the intersection of neuroimaging, biomarkers, and cognition in Alzheimer's disease. Rik is an Associate Professor in Translational Neuroscience and is a Principal Investigator both at the Alzheimer center Amsterdam of the Amsterdam UMC and at Lund University in Sweden. Rik received the European Grand Prix for Research on the Foundation of Alzheimer's Disease in 2019, the Young Investigator Research award from Alzheimer Nederland in 2020, and the Queen Silvia Research prize in 2021.
Job Titles:
- Head
- Head of Early Clinical Development
Rolf Pokorny is the Head of Early Clinical Development at Asceneuron.
With over 30 years of Central Nervous System (CNS) clinical research and clinical pharmacology experience especially in early phases of drug development, Rolf is supporting our management team in advancing Asceneuron's pipeline of innovative small molecules and progressing tau modifiers through the clinic.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President & Head of Regulatory Affairs
Ruhi Ahmed, Ph.D., serves as Head of Regulatory affairs. She has nearly 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries doing global regulatory drug development as well as program and portfolio management of assets from the preclinical to the commercial stage.
Prior to joining Asceneuron, Dr. Ahmed held positions at Inozyme Pharmaceutical Inc., UltraGenyx Pharmaceutical Inc., BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. and Actavis Inc. (formerly Watson Pharmaceutical Inc.). Her expertise encompasses leading the preclinical, clinical and manufacturing regulatory strategy and submissions for multiple INDs and marketing applications for a variety of neuromuscular, respiratory, cardiovascular, oncology and metabolic rare disease indications. She also led the alliance management and program strategy for several investigational prodrugs, biologics and small molecules.
Dr. Ahmed earned her B.S. in Biology and M.A. in Biochemistry from The University of Texas at Austin and her M.S. in Regulatory Sciences and Ph.D. in molecular pharmacology and toxicology from the University of Southern California.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President Research and Development
Ryan Schubert is Senior Vice President Research and Development at Asceneuron. He is responsible for clinical strategy, biomarkers, medical oversight, and operational support for Asceneuron's pipeline.
Ryan graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.S. in Biology before receiving his M.D. from the Stanford University School of Medicine. Afterwards, he completed an Internal Medicine internship, Neurology residency, and Physician-scientist post-doctoral fellowship in Neuroinflammation and Multiple Sclerosis at the University of California, San Francisco. Ryan is the first author of publications in top-tier journals including Nature Medicine and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is a patent inventor, and is a board-certified Neurologist. Passionate about translating scientific discoveries into innovative medicines, Ryan was inspired to join Asceneuron because of its potential to make a transformative impact on the lives of Neurology patients with high unmet needs.